MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Federal regulators are reviewing a complaint by
a watchdog group accusing University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists of
mistreating primates who died after experimentation.

Necropsy reports obtained by Stop Animal Exploitation Now show a
4-year-old macaque monkey that died in 2005 had an unspecified foreign
object lodged in its intestinal tract.

A 14-year-old female rhesus monkey also died that year after a tube
inserted for a surgery severely injured the monkey's throat, reports
show. Another female rhesus died of a bacterial infection after giving
birth.

Other reports show primates died with severe damage to their skin and
brains as a result of studies in which they had experimental devices
implanted in their spinal cords or heads.

In a complaint filed Monday with the United States Department of
Agriculture, the watchdog group alleges the documents show the
university is violating the Animal Welfare Act. The act requires daily
observation of the animals' health and proper veterinary care, among
other things.

The Milford, Ohio-based group also accused the university of failing
to list these animals in an annual report to the USDA disclosing the use
of primates in potentially painful experiments.

"It is clear that the documentation for the animals listed above
indicated a widespread pattern of negligence, inadequate veterinary
care, and deceitful reporting of experimental procedures at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison," the group's executive director,
Michael Budkie, wrote to the USDA on Monday.

USDA official Elizabeth Goldentyre responded Wednesday that its
investigators would look into the situation.

"Please be assured that we will look into your concerns and take
appropriate action if necessary," she wrote.

University officials did not immediately return phone messages
Wednesday.

UW-Madison runs one of eight federally funded National Primate
Research Centers, which house hundreds of primates used in research. The
goal is to discover treatments and cures for human ailments such as
Parkinson's Disease, HIV and glaucoma.

The university insists the primates are treated humanely and research
projects comply with federal guidelines and policies. Still, the center
has long been a target of animal rights groups who want to shut such
work down.

The Primate Freedom Project plans to build a museum next door to the
center to protest the research it considers cruel. The project, strongly
opposed by the university, is currently tied up in court.

That group released internal university records in 2005 detailing a
study by a pediatrics professor that led to an unusual number of deaths
and illnesses in rhesus monkeys in 2001 and 2002.

In one instance, a monkey died while an attendant went out to lunch
during an experiment.

The study, which involved research on monkeys' brains, was outlawed,
and the professor was suspended for two years from doing animal
research.

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